Critical Review: FFW (OTCMKTS:FFWC) vs. NB Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBBK)

NB Bancorp (NASDAQ:NBBK) and FFW (OTCMKTS:FFWC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for NB Bancorp and FFW, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NB Bancorp	0	1	2	1	3.00
FFW	0	0	0	0	0.00

NB Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $25.50, suggesting a potential upside of 10.97%. Given NB Bancorp’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe NB Bancorp is more favorable than FFW.

Dividends

NB Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. FFW pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. NB Bancorp pays out 18.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FFW pays out 21.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NB Bancorp and FFW”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NB Bancorp	$351.74 million	2.86	$50.30 million	$1.51	15.22
FFW	$32.63 million	1.81	$5.54 million	$5.79	9.45

NB Bancorp has higher revenue and earnings than FFW. FFW is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NB Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares NB Bancorp and FFW’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NB Bancorp	14.27%	9.13%	1.10%
FFW	18.80%	N/A	N/A

Summary

NB Bancorp beats FFW on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NB Bancorp

NB Bancorp, Inc. focuses on operating as a bank holding company for Needham Bank that provides various banking products and services in Greater Boston metropolitan area and surrounding communities in Massachusetts, eastern Connecticut, southern New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The company offers various deposits, including certificate of deposit, individual retirement, money market, savings, NOW, demand deposit, and interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing checking accounts; and commercial real estate and multifamily, one- to four-family residential real estate, construction and land development, commercial and industrial, and consumer loans, as well as home equity loans and lines of credit. It also invests in securities consisting of U.S. treasury and federal agency securities, government-sponsored residential mortgage-backed securities, municipal bonds, and corporate bonds. The company was founded in 1892 and is based in Needham, Massachusetts.

About FFW

FFW Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Crossroads Bank that provides various banking products and services. The company offers checking and savings accounts, overdraft protection, consumer credit cards, and reorder checks. Its loan products include home equity, auto, RV, boat, motorcycle, and personal loans; mortgage loans; agricultural loans; commercial real estate equipment financing; revolving lines of credit and standby letters of credit; and equipment leasing, as well as commercial lending services. The company offers insurance products, such as auto, home and property, business, life and health, and specialty insurance; investment products and securities; and digital banking services. FFW Corporation was founded in 1920 and is based in Wabash, Indiana.